FILE – Police at a crime scene
Photo by Lloyd Mitchell
A 28-year-old nurse heading home after working the night shift at a Brooklyn hospital was fatally struck by a hit-and-run driver on Saturday.
According to law enforcement sources, the nurse, identified as Jiayi Zheng of 55th Street in Brooklyn, was struck at around 7:40 a.m. on Aug. 29 at the intersection of 55th Street and Third Avenue in Sunset Park. Police said a 2014 Cadillac traveling southbound on Third Avenue hit her as she crossed the street within the crosswalk. She suffered severe head and body trauma and was rushed to NYU Langone Hospital-Brooklyn, where she worked and was later pronounced dead.
Police said the driver did not remain on the scene and was still on the lam as of Aug. 30. So far, no arrests have been made, but the investigation remains ongoing.
According to the street safety group Transportation Alternatives, six pedestrians and five cyclists in the two-mile stretch of 3rd Avenue that runs below the BQE have been killed since 2014. The organization said a plan to redesign this stretch of 3rd Avenue was presented by the DOT in 2023 but “has yet to be implemented.”
Ben Furnas, executive director of Transportation Alternatives, said he was outraged over Zheng’s death.
“This was not inevitable. There has been a plan to redesign Third Avenue that has been gathering dust while the community begs for improvements,” he said in a statement. “We need to fast-track the Third Avenue redesign, and we need a real plan from City Hall to stop the carnage citywide.”
Last week, street safety advocates, including those from Transportation Alternatives and Families for Safe Streets, held a “die-in” protest outside City Hall in Lower Manhattan to shed light on deadly street collisions that result in cyclist and pedestrian deaths.
State Sen. Andrew Gounardes, whose district includes Sunset Park, took to social media to push for changes to the dangerous intersection.
“While the investigation proceeds, I am once again calling on NYC DOT to work with the community to make 3rd Ave. safer,” he said. “Just over a year ago we lost two elderly neighbors to a similar crash, and 3rd Ave remains one of the most dangerous corridors in Brooklyn. Enough is enough.”